Spirit Adrift – Infinite Illumination

In short: buy this album. Now.
Nate Garrett of Spirit Adrift has a podcast called Big Riff Energy. In it, he hails any band or artist that brings the “big riff energy” to their music. It’s safe to say that he can hail himself, because he absolutely brought the biggest, riffiest energy possible to the new Spirit Adrift album “Infinite Illumination”.
Spirit Adrift’s catalogue is full of fantastic riffage and blistering solos, but they brought the extra heat to this one. Every song is filled with heavy as hell riffs and intricate lead work. Songs like “Window Within” and “White Death” melt your face clean off. The bridge in “I Am Sustained” is as filthy as any Kyuss riff. The rhythm guitar work is worthy of Hetfield.
The heavy riffage does not distract from the quality of the songwriting on display though. These are carefully crafted, masterful heavy metal songs that feel just right in every aspect. Despite the average length of the songs being over 5 minutes, they never drag on, and you are never left thinking “that song could’ve used an extra chorus/breakdown/solo”. Everything fits perfectly.
You will often see them branded with the “doom metal” label, and there are definitely parts that are very doomy (the intro to the closer “Where Once There Was An Ocean” is heavy), but there is so much more to Spirit Adrift than that. Their influences are hard to pin down. There are echoes of Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Death and Candlemass.
The lyrics are heartfelt and genuinely moving, especially if you know what Nate Garrett and his wife have been going through lately. When Nate sings “I was born in a bad way”, you feel it. He poured his demons out on this one.
Overall, “Infinite Illumination” feels like a magnum opus. Which is fitting because Nate has made it clear that this is the final Spirit Adrift album.
That is heartbreaking to know because this is the best album Spirit Adrift have made. Every bit of experience, knowledge and fandom that the guys have in them has been poured into this record. It is, for lack of a better word, excellent. And very cool. A very cool and excellent record.
Spirit Adrift have been prolific in the 10 years since they first emerged. We’ve been graced with 6 albums, 2 EPs and a couple of stand-alone singles. Nate also made the excellent Neon Nightmare album “Faded Dream” in 2024. The guy works. No doubt he’ll continue to write and release music, but we may be hearing some different things out of Nate Garrett in the future. On his podcast he has said that there will be another Neon Nightmare album, and he has regularly expressed his love of outlaw country and prog-rock. Given the chops on display on “Infinite Illumination” it would not be surprising if he was able to create some kind of epic prog-goth-country mix that blows our minds all over again.